Thank you, Mike Madigan

By Dan Proft

June 11^th, 2025

If wanting to help people too much is a crime, then send Mike Madigan to prison and throw away the key. The only real offense here would be for the longest serving state house speaker in American history to lose his freedom for a single day.

“Punishing him for trying to help people—something we are all taught to do—is the true injustice,” declared Lisa Madigan, the similarly self-sacrificing daughter of Mike who overcame her fivehead to be longest serving Attorney General in Illinois history.

“Mr. Integrity.” That is how former Rep. Bill Lipiniski referenced Madigan in his entreaty to federal Judge John Blakey for leniency.

Lipinski would know, we are conditioned to assume, as he spent 22 years producing more pork for Chicago than Tyson Foods at the same time Madigan was finding gainful employment in the warm bosom of government for the Southwest Side’s bungalow set.

Former First Lady Jayne Thompson said her late husband Jim, the longest serving governor in Illinois history and allegedly a Republican, considered Madigan a trusted confidant whose word was his bond whether the two were “collaborating or fiercely opposed.”

Thompson inveighed on Judge Blakey to “consider his (Madigan’s) many years of dedicated public service to the people of our state and his reputation for honesty and disciplined hard work over more than half a century.”

Former governor and J.B. Pritzker sparring partner Jim Edgar, also allegedly a Republican, put his squeaky-clean, never-charged reputation on the line to affirm Madigan “always kept his word” and while “Mike made mistakes…he did far more good in making the state a better place to live.”

Some of the more jaded, hard-hearted types might make the point that a person can be honest about their bad intentions and work diligently in furtherance of nefarious ends.

But does such cynicism really have a place here? I hasten to remind you the subject in question has been knighted “Mr. Integrity” by men and women of honor, including several non-relatives and many of our longest-serving betters.

If that doesn’t sufficiently lodge open your empathy, consider Jerry Reinsdorf crediting Madigan for the 2005 White Sox saying Madigan made “possible the first World Series championship in 88 years,” without asking “for any consideration in exchange.”

A sweetheart deal for a taxpayer-funded stadium that made Reinsdorf a billionaire certainly warms my cockles. It’s a Hallmark movie that writes itself.

The 2005 White Sox title courtesy of Madigan notwithstanding, there is some understandable confusion.

Some residents may be perplexed by the praise for Madigan from poohbahs of a political party that, absent any interest in developing a positive brand identity then or now, spent 30 years bombarding mailboxes and populating airwaves with the message that Mike Madigan was what was wrong with Illinois, they weren’t him, and if he goes and they stay things will get better.

Well, truth be told, for most in the Illinois Republican Party’s leadership ranks during Madigan’s tenure it was a simulation not a real fight. It was to keep up the appearance of two parties long after they decided one big party was the better way to go so long as they were always on the invite list.

In other words, they didn’t mean the nasty things they said and they’re very sorry about what has befallen their colleague.

Therefore, when you read that federal prosecutors want Mike Madigan to serve 12.5 years in prison for his bribery and conspiracy convictions plus his “obstructive conduct and lying on the witness stand,” remember that those who know him best are completely unfamiliar with that Mike Madigan.

It is why all forms of life found in the Illinois political ecosystem committed to justice and fair play, we are conditioned to assume, are rallying around the former house speaker.

In addition to our federal and state heroes are our government union heroes like former SEIU President Tom Balanoff and our billionaire philanthropist heroes like Marxist talk radio station owner Fred Eychaner and our business elite heroes like hedge-fund impresario and Rahm Emanuel megadonor Michael Sacks and our local law-and-order heroes like former Cook County State’s Attorney Dick Devine, and our religious heroes like former Loyola University Chicago President Michael Garanzini.

If only a jury of Madigan’s peers had heard from these paragons of moral virtue before they unanimously sided with this characterization of Madigan’s conduct, “Time after time, Madigan exploited his immense power for his own personal benefit by trading his public office for private gain for himself and his associates, all the while carefully and deliberately concealing his conduct from detection.”

If only.

Nevertheless, this is not to say we should lose faith in our government and government-adjacent noblemen.

As a dutiful pleb, let me offer some additional Combinesplaining on their behalf.

First, Madigan’s character witnesses can only make judgments based on their personal experiences.

This happens quite a bit. Many people said they same thing when former Chicago Alderman Ed Burke was convicted on corruption charges last year. Many people have been saying the same thing recently about former President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline. Those three groups of people would prefer if you didn’t Venn diagram them.

As one caller to my radio show put it, the John Wayne Gacy that was a serial killer wasn’t the John Wayne Gacy I knew. I only knew him as a Norwood Park Township Democrat Party precinct captain so I can only comment on my direct dealings.

Second, Madigan’s backers are so pure of heart that they are unable to fathom him committing the crimes for which he was convicted. To that end, back in 2000, before former Governor George Ryan was arrested and convicted in the licenses for bribes scandal, much to the chagrin of many of these same civic titans on Madigan’s roster, former Governor (and Secretary of State) Jim Edgar said, “I just can’t imagine George Ryan ever doing anything knowingly that’s illegal.”

Jim Edgar is emblematic of this lineup of Sir Galahads who have come forward seeking mercy for Madigan. They know not what evil lurks in the hearts of men.

Lastly, as they opined in their jeremiads to the judge, whatever Madigan’s sins—which, again, they know nothing about—his Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy far overshadow them as he is responsible for the great strides in quality of life Illinois has made in the past 50 years.

Please don’t look at the data. In fact, please don’t even pick your head up and look around.

Accept their premises. Affirm their rationalizations. Thank Mike Madigan for his selfless, praiseworthy service. Then get down on all fours before Madigan’s benefactors like Kevin Bacon in “Animal House” and recite the line with each paddle whack, Combine pledge, “Thank you, sir, may I have another.”

-30-

Dan Proft is the co-host of the radio program, “Chicago’s Morning Answer” on AM 560 weekdays 5-9am.

The post Thank you, Mike Madigan appeared first on John Kass.